by Judi Curtin
We walked for ages – so long that I could feel giant blisters growing on my toes. Why hadn’t I listened when Mum told me to wear socks that morning? Alice was leading the way now, and I followed her. We didn’t talk – there didn’t seem to be much that we could say. After a while, Alice seemed to be almost running, and I was struggling to keep up.
In the end, I couldn’t take any more.
‘Al,’ I said. ‘Please stop.’
Alice turned back to me, while still walking quickly ahead.
‘We can’t…….’ she began.
‘Look out,’ I called – but it was too late. Alice stumbled over a large log, and crashed to the ground. I raced over to her.
‘Al, are you OK? Please be OK.’
She opened her eyes and groaned.
‘Yes, I think I’m OK. But my ankle hurts.’
I held my hand out to her.
‘Here,’ I said. ‘Let me help you up.’
Alice took my hand and staggered up on to one foot.
‘Can you put your other foot down?’ I asked.
Alice nodded grimly.
‘Sure I can.’ But when she did as I suggested, her face crumpled up in pain.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t look like I can put it down after all.’
She leaned against a tree for balance, and sat down on the log that she had tripped over. Her face was gone a horrible grey-white colour, like leftover porridge.
I sat down beside her and burst into tears. Alice put her arm around me.
‘Hey,’ she said. ‘I’m the one who’s hurt here. I’m the one who should be crying.’
‘I know,’ I sobbed. ‘And I’m sorry, Alice. But I’m afraid. I’m really, really afraid.’
Alice hugged me tight.
‘Look, everything’s going to be OK,’ she said. She looked at her watch. ‘It’s almost six o’clock, and we should be home by now. And you know what your Mum is like. By half six, she’ll have called the police.’
I shook my head.
‘Obviously you don’t know what my mum is like. She’ll have called the police by five past six.’
‘Well then,’ said Alice. ‘Then there’s nothing to worry about, is there? The police will find us.’
‘Why did we have to hide our bikes so well? If they were just on the roadway, at least the police would know we were in here. How on earth are they going to find us now?’
‘I don’t know. But they’ll have machines for finding people, or something. Anyway, let’s let them worry about that. It is their job. All we have to do is sit here and wait.’
So that’s what we did.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It was nearly seven o’clock. It was starting to get darker, and the forest was getting creepy. A few times, Alice had tried to walk, but even when she leaned on me, it was totally impossible.
‘What’s that?’ I said, jumping as I heard a rustle behind me.
Alice looked around.
‘There’s nothing there. It’s just the wind in the trees.’
I clung on to Alice.
‘I keep hearing weird noises,’ I said.
Alice smiled.
‘That’ll just be my stomach rumbling.’
I tried to smile too, but I couldn’t.
‘What if the police can’t find us? I asked. ‘Did you ever hear of anyone getting lost in a forest and never being found?’
Alice shook her head.
‘Nah. That only happens in fairy tales. And in fairy tales it only happens to bad people, and we’re not bad people, so we don’t have to worry.’
‘We are bad though. We’re always saying mean things about Melissa.’
Alice shrugged.
‘She deserves it, so she doesn’t count. You know, Meg, I’d really love to see Melissa now. I’d love to see her come prancing along in her high heels.’
I nodded.
‘Yeah, me too. I think if we get out of here, I’ll never be mean to Melissa again.’
Alice giggled.
‘Let’s not make any foolish promises,’ she said. ‘Remember, tomorrow we’ll look back on this as a big adventure.’
‘Well, I wish tomorrow would hurry up and come, because I’m not having much fun now,’ I said.
* * *
It was half past nine, and Alice and I were huddled together trying to keep warm.
‘I’ve been thinking about Bruno,’ said Alice suddenly.
I’d just been thinking about him too, but there was no way I was telling Alice that.
‘What were you thinking?’ I asked casually.
‘I was thinking that Pascal was really mean to him today when he pushed him down on the sand. I should have done something.’
I nodded.
‘I was surprised that you did nothing.’
Alice sighed.
‘I was still trying to convince myself that Pascal was nice.’
I shook my head.
‘He is so not nice. Oh, and I forgot to tell you about Pascal and the yellow shorts.’
Now Alice sat up straight.
‘You mean those gross yellow shorts that seemed to be glued to Bruno?’
I giggled.
‘Yes. They’re the ones. Bruno told me that Pascal got them somewhere. He gave them to Bruno, and convinced him that they were totally cool, and persuaded him to wear them every day.’
Alice gasped.
‘He’s a big, fat, ugly pig,’ she said, ‘He wears cool stuff himself, so he knows what’s nice. He knew those shorts were totally gross. What a mean, mean thing to do.’
I shrugged.
‘Not much we can do about it now.’
Alice spoke fiercely.
‘Yes, there is. I promise you, if I get out of here, I’ll pay that evil boy back.’
I shrugged again.
‘Let’s get out of here first, then we can worry about that.’
Just then a cold wind blew. I shivered
‘I so wish I’d brought my fleece,’ I said for the hundredth time.
‘Me too,’ said Alice for the hundredth time.
‘Is your ankle very sore?’
‘No,’ said Alice bravely. ‘It’s fine.’
I knew she was lying. If her ankle was better, she’d be racing through the forest now, she wouldn’t be sitting down waiting for someone to find us.
Suddenly there was a horrible howling noise. I screeched.
‘What is it? What is it?’
Alice tried to look around, but that was a bit of a waste of time since it was completely dark by now.
‘It’s just a bird or something,’ she said.
‘I’ve never heard a bird make a noise like that,’ I said. ‘Do you think it might be a wolf?’
‘Nah,’ said Alice. ‘I don’t think there are any wolves in France.’
‘There are,’ I said. ‘Don’t you remember Dad telling Rosie about them the other day?’
‘He was just trying to get her to come in from the garden and go to bed,’ said Alice.
‘Maybe,’ I said. ‘But that doesn’t mean there aren’t wolves around here. There could be whole packs of them out there, waiting for us to fall asleep, so they can attack.’
Alice hugged me.
‘Now you’re just being silly,’ she said. ‘Why don’t we talk about Melissa for a while, to make ourselves feel better?’
I shook my head.
‘I’m not going to say anything bad about her any more, remember?’
‘Oh yeah,’ said Alice. ‘I forgot. What can we talk about so? Food?’
‘No way. My stomach hurts I’m so hungry.’
‘Family?’ asked Alice.
‘Double no way. Mum and Dad are going to kill me when we get back.’
‘Do you think they’ll ever let you out on your own again?’
I shrugged.
‘I don’t know, and I don’t care. After this I don’t ever want to go out on my own again. I’m going to stay home where I’ll be safe.’
A little bit after this, Alice started to cry.
‘It’s all my fault,’ she said. ‘We should have gone to the stupid museum with your mum and dad.’
I felt like crying too, but now it looked like I’d have to pretend to be strong.
‘Hey,’ I said. ‘I didn’t want to go to the museum either, remember?’
‘Maybe. But if it was up to you, we’d have stayed at the house. Coming out here was all my stupid, stupid idea. Oh, Meg, what are we going to do? We’re stuck out here, we’re freezing and starving, and my leg hurts, and I just want to go home.’
Now Alice started to sob so much that I could feel her shaking next to me. I put both my arms around her.
‘It’s OK, Al,’ I said. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll be out of here soon.’
‘Do you really think so?’ said Alice through her sobs.
‘Of course I think so,’ I said, with my fingers crossed so the lie wouldn’t seem so bad. ‘We’ll be home before you know it.’
Chapter Thirty
Alice’s super-duper watch had a light on it, so I knew it was nearly eleven o’clock. I’d never before been out so late without an adult, and I so wasn’t enjoying it.
I had piled a big heap of moss on the ground, and Alice and I were huddled together on it, trying to keep warm. We weren’t talking very much. For the first time in our whole lives, we had run out of things to say.
Suddenly Alice sat up.
‘What was that noise?’ she hissed.
I was so cold and hungry I’d forgotten about being scared for a while, but now I was terrified all over again. I clung on to Alice.
‘Is it a wolf?’ I said.
‘Shhh. There it is again.’
I still couldn’t hear anything.
‘Did it sound like a wolf?’ I asked.
‘How am I supposed to know what a wolf sounds––’ she began to say, then she grabbed me again. ‘Can’t you hear it now?’ she whispered.
I shook my head.
‘Maybe you’re imagining it. It’s probably just my stomach rumbling again. Or it could be my teeth chattering.’
‘Shhh. There it is again,’ said Alice. ‘It’s voices. Listen.’
At last I could hear it too – the sound of voices, far away and very faint. I jumped up. ‘What’s the French for “help”?’ I asked.
Alice hobbled up to her feet, leaning on me for balance.
‘Who cares?’ she said.
Then she let out a screech that almost deafened me.
‘Help! Help! We’re over here! Help! Please help us!’
I shouted too.
‘Help! Help! Over here! Help!’
There was silence, and then we could hear the voices once more, a bit closer this time.
Alice and I shouted and shouted. My throat began to hurt, but I didn’t care. I forgot all about being cold and hungry and thirsty. Nothing mattered now except for getting out of the forest.
Soon we could see lights, and hear the sound of people trampling through the forest. Suddenly I had a really horrible thought.
‘What if it’s not the police?’ I said. ‘What if it’s robbers or kidnappers?’
‘At this moment, I don’t really care,’ said Alice. ‘All I want to do is get out of here. So keep on shouting.’
She was right, so we shouted some more, until two very kind French policemen were standing beside us saying, ‘Meg-anne? Al-eese?’ and Alice and I were jumping up and down and trying not to hug them, we were so glad to see them.
One of the policemen carried Alice all the way to the road, which was only about a hundred metres from where we had been sitting. We should have felt really stupid, but we were much too happy for that.
When we got to their police car, the policemen gave us blankets to wrap ourselves up in. The blankets were a bit smelly, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to be warm again.
Then one of the men pulled a big red apple from his pocket, and handed it to us with a smile.
‘Hungry?’ he said.
We didn’t answer. Alice just grabbed the apple, took a bite and then passed it to me. I took a bite and passed it back to her. And so we continued, until there were only pips and a stalk left. It wasn’t the freshest, crispest apple I’d ever had, but that didn’t matter right then. It tasted better than the yummiest cake I had ever eaten in my whole life.
Chapter Thirty-One
We got back to the house quickly – a bit too quickly. Now that I wasn’t afraid of starvation or wolves anymore, it was time to be very, very afraid of Mum and Dad.
‘I’ll tell them it was all my fault,’ said Alice.
‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘But I don’t think that will make much difference. I think they’re going to kill me first and ask questions later.’
As we pulled up outside the house, the front door opened and Mum and Dad and Rosie came racing out. One of the policemen got out of the car and started to say something, but Mum just pushed him out of the way, opened the back door of the car and threw herself on top of me.
‘My baby. My baby,’ she said over and over again, hugging me and stroking my face and kissing me. Then, when she was finished that, she turned to Alice and did the same to her. Poor Alice didn’t say anything, but I think she probably wished she was back in the forest again.
I got out of the car, and Dad came over to me. He had tears in his eyes, and that really scared me, because I have never, ever seen my dad cry. Then he hugged me for a very long time, while Rosie pulled at my arms and said,
‘I’m glad you’re back, Megan.’
The policemen patted Alice and me on the head, and then they drove away. Dad helped Alice into the house, and the rest of us trailed behind. Dad looked at Alice’s ankle, and decided that it was just a sprain. Mum found a bandage in Lucy’s first aid kit, and strapped it up.
‘Now girls,’ she said. ‘You must be starving. Come to the table and get something to eat. Isn’t it lucky that we didn’t finish the lovely chick pea salad?’
Alice caught my eye and we grinned at each other. Neither of us said anything though, because seconds later we were shoving chick pea salad down our throats like we hadn’t seen food for about a hundred years.
‘How did the police find us?’ asked Alice when she had finally stopped licking her plate.
‘Well,’ said Dad. ‘When you didn’t come home, we went and spoke to Bruno’s family. Bruno’s little brother had seen you in the village. He told Bruno, and he came into the street, and he saw which way you cycled.’
‘So Bruno saved us?’ said Alice.
Dad smiled.
‘I suppose you could say that. In any case, later on, when we called the police, they had something to go on. They drove along the road you had taken, and they spoke to a shopkeeper who had seen you cycle past her shop.’
‘Oh yes,’ said Alice. ‘I remember her. ‘We were going to go back there later. Except … well except we couldn’t find the way.’
‘Anyway,’ continued Dad. ‘That road is a dead end, and since the shopkeeper hadn’t seen you cycle back, the police decided you must be in the forest somewhere. And that’s how they found you.’
I couldn’t join in the conversation. I still couldn’t figure something out.
Why weren’t Mum and Dad cross with us?
When we’re at home, Mum goes crazy if I go next-door to Alice’s place without telling her, so why was she so calm after I’d disappeared in a forest for half a day?
I decided I had to get it over with.
‘Mum, Dad,’ I said. ‘Why aren’t you cross with us?’
Mum got up and hugged and kissed me so much that I wondered if that was my punishment.
‘We might be cross tomorrow, or the next day,’ she said. ‘But for now, we’re just glad to have you home, safe and well.’
I still couldn’t believe it was that simple.
‘We went off without telling you where we were going. And we lied to you about spending the afternoon with Bruno
. So tomorrow, am I going to be grounded forever?’ I asked.
Mum and Dad looked at each other.
‘How did you feel when you were in that forest?’ asked Mum.
‘I have never been so scared in my whole life,’ I said. ‘Or so cold or so hungry or so thirsty.’
Dad smiled.
‘Maybe that’s punishment enough then,’ he said.
Then he came over and hugged me, and seconds later, Mum and Rosie and Alice joined in, and we hugged until I felt safe and warm and happy again.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Next morning Dad drove Alice and me to pick up our bikes. It was strange. Now that the sun was shining, and Dad was there with us, and we knew where we were going, the forest didn’t seem like a scary place anymore.
Our bikes were there, exactly as we had left them. Alice was still resting her foot, so Dad and I tied the bikes on to the bike-rack, and then we went back home.
Mum was going crazy.
‘Lucy left this place spotless for us,’ she said. ‘And it has to be spotless again. Take this mop, Megan, and wash the dining room floor, there’s a good girl.’
An hour later, the house was sparkling clean. Lucky Alice couldn’t do much, because of her ankle, so she had just sat on her bed, and folded and packed all of our clothes. When everything was ready, Mum made us all sit in the garden, so we wouldn’t get the house messy again.
She looked at her watch.
‘We’ve got an hour before we have to leave. Anyone want to do anything?’
Dad jumped up.
‘There’s this museum––’ he began.
‘No!’ shouted everyone together.
Dad didn’t seem too upset.
‘I’ll just sit here and read my book then.’
Alice stood up.
‘Can Megan and I cycle in to the village one more time?’
Mum looked surprised.
‘But your ankle?’
Alice smiled.
‘It’s almost better. And cycling won’t hurt it a bit. And … Er … Sheila … do you think we could take that bowl of lentil stew that’s left in the fridge? Megan and I could have a quick picnic in the village.’